Pay the Piper
by chrisfaithalin
Summary: Takes place after episode 16 of season 3. Michelle tells Tony that she is not going to make it out alive. Lots of angst. Three part story. 1st is a base chaper. 2&3 are alternate endings, one happy and one sad.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
  
The stage has been set  
  
Our roles have been played  
  
It's not over yet  
  
The piper must be paid  
  
We have nothing to gain  
  
And everything to lose  
  
We just try to stay sane  
  
Our price, the piper will choose  
  
Michelle listened to Guielle. Her throat tightened, and she couldn't breath no longer. Her voice in her head could not stop saying the same thing over and over again. 'We failed. The virus is out. Tony was right.'  
  
"Michelle?" Guielle asked, trying to get her attention.  
  
Her head snapped at attention. "We failed Guielle. We failed all of these people."  
  
Guielle's features softened. "At least we tried to save them."  
  
Michelle relaxed. "That we did. I have been honored to work with you Guielle. Thank you so much. Why don't you go tell people what is going on. Follow all protocol. No going in or out. We are all stuck in here. I need to tell Tony."  
  
Guielle nodded sympathetically. "Don't let him be angry with you. He will only regret that."  
  
Michelle nodded silently and gave Guielle a quick hug before he went off to the hard job of telling people what had happened. She actually envied his job. How was she going to tell Tony?  
  
'By telling the truth.' Her mind told her. She slid down to the floor, sitting against the wall. Michelle pulled out her cell phone and dialed the all so familiar number.   
  
It rung before a male voice answered, "Almeida."  
  
Michelle took a deep breath and finally spoke. "Tony, it's Michelle."  
  
"What's going on down there? Has help arrived yet?" Tony asked in his head of CTU voice.  
  
Michelle never really noticed how he had his CTU voice, and then he had his voice for her. All she wanted to hear was that voice again. It's silky warmth washing over her as he talked to her.  
  
"Michelle?"  
  
"Umm, I don't know. We are inside the building right now."  
  
Tony didn't wait any longer to speak. "You broke my direct orders. I told you to wait. What if something happens? How am I going to explain this to Chapelle? This is going against protocol and wife or not, there are going to be consequences." Tony was on a full blown rant. Not even thinking about why she would be calling him.   
  
Michelle had to raise her voice to stop his talking. "TONY!"  
  
"I'm disappointed in you Michelle. But, have you found the virus?" Tony asked the million dollar question with so much edge in his voice.  
  
"Yes…" Michelle stopped, "but, we were too late…" Michelle broke into sobs. "We failed all of these people."  
  
There was a heavy pause. "Michelle…" Tony's voice broke before it could continue.  
  
"Yes, I was in the building. Guielle is now telling the people. We are following protocol. No one in or out." Michelle told him in her best professional voice.  
  
Back in CTU, Tony collapsed onto the floor against the wall. His world was crashing around him. "No…no…no…" He kept muttering to himself.   
  
"Tony?" Michelle had nothing to say.  
  
"I'm so sorry Michelle. I'm sorry." Tony voice was shaky as tears started to fall down his face.  
  
Michelle's heart tugged at hearing Tony's voice. How she wanted to be there, and comfort him. "It's ok Tony. Don't be sorry."  
  
"I should have found somebody else to go on the mission. I shouldn't have had us fighting in the first place. I should have apologized right away. I thought we had all the time in the world to make up and settle our differences. How wrong I was." Tony gave a little ironic laugh before slammed his fist against his leg in anger.  
  
"Tony, you couldn't have stopped me from going even if you threatened me with my job. I had to do this. We were both at fault for letting our fight go for so long. But, there are so many 'if I' and 'should haves'"  
  
"Why couldn't you just follow my orders for once. You shouldn't have went inside." Tony spoke, his anger rising again.  
  
"Would you have had me let those people die? I couldn't just stand by and do nothing."  
  
"I told you not to though? Look where it got you."  
  
"Tony, do you really want to be arguing about this? I can't change what happened. It's in the past now."  
  
Tony was silent. His breathing was ragged from all the emotions. Finally he whispered. "I love you."  
  
"I love you too, Tony."  
  
"You are the only person I have ever really loved. The only person I can trust with my life. You were there standing by me when no one else was. And you were never afraid to tell me when I was wrong. You always do the right thing, even if it's the hard thing."  
  
"You are the only person who will love me despite who I am. I never thanked you for that. You always had faith in me and gave me strength when I most needed it."  
  
"I can't live without you." Tony let out a sob, just thinking about life without Michelle left him feeling empty and cold.  
  
Michelle squeezed her eyes shut, trying to prevent the tears from falling. "But you will. You will keep going long after I am gone. Move on and find happiness."  
  
"I don't want to. You are my happiness."   
  
Michelle let the tears fall freely down her face. "You have to promise me that you will go on."  
  
"I can't" Tony said meekly.  
  
"You have to. You are strong Tony. You can get through this, I know you can. Please, just promise me."  
  
Tony stared down at his shaky hands. What was he supposed to do? "I promise Michelle."  
  
There was some background talking, and then Michelle came back on. "Look Tony, I am sorry, I need to go. The containment people have gotten here."  
  
Tony became panicked. This could be the last time that he talked to Michelle. "No Michelle! Don't go!"  
  
Michelle was now crying. "I have to Tony. I love you so much. I will always be with you."  
  
Tony started to cry as well. "I love you too, Michelle. I love you. I love you."   
  
"Goodbye Tony."  
  
Tony was now sobbing so hard that his body was shaking. "Bye. I will always love you."  
  
Michelle clicked the phone off. She took deep breaths to try to calm herself. She had to go out and talk with the virus containment people. After a minute, she made her way back out to the front of the hotel.  
  
Tony couldn't move. He just sat against the wall, crying. His mind spiraled down a path of darkness and depression. He had no idea as to how long he stayed in this state. No one interrupted him. Out of no where his anger came bubbling over. He stood up, took a paper weight from his desk, and threw it with all of his strength at his door, where it shattered the glass into a million pieces.  
  
A/N This is the first part to a three part story. The next two chapters are two different alternate endings to how I think this whole thing will be resolved. One is going to have a happy ending and one is going to have a not so happy ending. I don't know which one to do first thought, so if you have any idea in what order they should be please tell me. So, you can read one or both. Whatever floats your boat. Thank you for reading. And that poem thing at the beginning was my own and the other half of the poem will be at the end of the sad story. I have two other t/m fics if you are interested. Please review and tell me what you think. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Tony collapsed into a heap on the floor, unable to stop crying. Every emotion that he had felt in the last 14 hours came out in a flood of tears and sobs. Nothing could be done to stop it. Nobody disturbed him, knowing all too well what had happened to the team down at the hotel.  
  
He kept thinking over and over again how he didn't want it to end this way. He couldn't leave things unresolved. He would never get a chance to make things right before she died.   
  
The ringing of his cell phone, brought Tony temperorarily down to earth. Thinking that it could be Michelle he leaped at the phone and answered it. "Hello?"  
  
Hearing Tony answer the phone in a normal way instead of answering with his name, disarmed Michelle and made her realize how disoriented Tony must be. His voice was hoarse and soft from all the crying that he had done. "Tony, it's me."  
  
"Good, how are you? What's going on?" Tony asked quickly.  
  
"I am great. Tony, the health services people came in and tested the air where the virus was sent through the ventilations system. The results showed that it wasn't the virus. It is a decoy. A purely harmless powder." Michelle's voice was close to giddy.   
  
Tony sat up straight and stared at the wall. For a few moments he repeated those words in his head over and over to make sure they meant what he thought they did. Then it registered to him. Michelle was going to live. He let out a happy sob. "Thank God. Can I come down and see you?"  
  
"Well, they are keeping us contained here, but we are allowed to go outside, we just can't go outside the radius. But Tony, you have to stay at CTU and do your job." Michelle told him.  
  
Tony brushed this off however. "I will be down there in 10 minutes."  
  
"Tony, it's a 20 minute drive?"  
  
"I said 10 minutes and it will be 10 minutes." Tony said firmly and then hung up to and got his coat.  
  
Michelle closed the cell phone and smiled. She understood how he felt, because what seemed like days ago, but was actually hours, Tony was shot and she wanted more than anything to go up and see Tony.  
  
Tony grabbed his keys from his desk and hurried out of his office, taking the stairs two at a time. Chappelle caught sight of Tony and stopped him before he left.   
  
"Where do you think you are going?" Chappelle asked harshly.  
  
"To go see Michelle." Tony said impatiently. This was cutting into his 10 minutes.  
  
"She is going to be fine, so there is nothing you can do. You have a job that needs to be done here."  
  
"Well, screw the job Ryan." Tony spoke angrily and turned to leave.  
  
"You are a bigger problem than you are worth." Chappelle called after Tony as he reached the door.  
  
Tony stopped with his hand on the door, frozen on the spot. Then he spoke calmly and confidently. "Well, this job has more problems than it is worth, you being one of those problems." Tony didn't skip a beat and hurried out of the building.  
  
The car beeped as Tony turned the alarm off. He hopped in and started the car. Tony didn't care that he could be fired for what he just said, and probably will be. All that mattered was getting to Michelle. Usually he was more logical, but there is no logic when love is involved.  
  
It was a good thing that it was such an early time in the morning and the roads were almost deserted. At some points Tony was going 40-60 m.p.h on the city streets of L.A. Finally, Tony arrived at the hotel. He parked a block away and ran towards the hotel. He was stopped by containment workers, but Jack spotted him and vouched that Tony was in fact head of CTU. Well, for now at least.  
  
Tony's eyes searched the crowd trying to spot Michelle.   
  
Jack laughed at seeing Tony's apprehensive face. "I can guess why you are here."  
  
Tony smiled at Jack and resumed to look around him. "I guess that would be kind of obvious."  
  
Jack looked at Tony. He should tell him about how this was a decoy and they had to work on finding out where the real virus was. He couldn't do that to Tony though. They didn't need Tony and after him being shot and what Michelle has been through, they could use some rest and maybe a little happiness. They were lucky to still have each other.   
  
A painful stab went through Jack as he thought of how he hadn't been so lucky. Yes, they needed this. He could only wished that he had been as fortunate as them. They deserve this.  
  
"Don't worry Tony. I have been watching over her for you. She is over here by the ambulances."  
  
Tony gave Jack and appreciative glance and ran towards that general vicinity. After pushing many people aside he caught sight of her. He had to remember to breath.   
  
She turned and saw him. Instantly she went running and threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. Michelle was holding on to Tony's neck, while Tony held Michelle's head against his chest under his chest, stroking her hair with his other hand. Both, didn't move. They both were crying, just happy to be in each others arms again. Neither wanted to move from that spot. Tony moved back first and started planting kisses all over her face, tasting salt from her tears. Finally his lips landed on her lips and it was like their first kiss all over again. It was a desperate kiss in which all their anxiety and grief was put into that one kiss. It held the promise of tomorrow.  
  
Tony pulled back, his eyes still closed with a smile on his lips. He opened his eyes slowly, relishing the feeling of Michelle in his arms. "Come on, lets get out of here."  
  
Michelle grinned right back at Tony. "But, what about our jobs? We do have those you know."   
  
"Forget the job, come on." He pulled her by her arm towards his car. "Jack, we're leaving."  
  
Jack nodded and smiled. "I will tell Chappelle that you two were in no condition to keep working. Which is true." Nodding to them, huddling closely together as if they were attached at the hip.  
  
Michelle giggled. "Thanks Jack."  
  
"Yes, thank you." Tony replied. "See you later." At that, the couple walked the blocks distance to the car.  
  
Tony started up the car and both were silent for a few minutes. Michelle spoke first. "So, how did Chappelle take you coming down to seem me."  
  
Tony nervously laughed. "About that, well, not so well."  
  
Michelle looked over worriedly. "What does that mean?"  
  
"That means I may have said some things that were not so appropriate." Tony tried side stepping the topic.  
  
"What did you say Tony?" Michelle asked condescendingly.   
  
"Umm..well" Cough. "Screw" cough "the job." cough.  
  
Michelle laughed. "I have a feeling that wasn't all of it."   
  
"I am just going to plead the meds I am on from the gunshot influenced me into saying such things."  
  
"He won't get rid of you." Michelle reassured.   
  
"I know. I just don't know if I want to stay at CTU anymore. What happened today has just made me rethink about my career. Look at how much I almost lost today. Yours and my own life. That is a large price to pay to keep this job."  
  
"But, your job is your life."  
  
"And it almost took that away from me." Tony commented quickly.  
  
"Well, it's not something to make rash decisions about. We will think about it."  
  
Tony nodded. "Are we going to talk about what happened today?'  
  
"I don't know what there is to say." Michelle answered.   
  
"I am not taking this second chance for granted. We can not pretend today didn't happen."  
  
"But, I don't even know where to start."  
  
"Well, I do. That is I am sorry. I am not sorry that I didn't tell you about the mission because, that was for safety reasons and Jack, Guielle, and I decided it was for the best if we didn't tell you. However, I am sorry for getting angry at you for doing your job by turning me in and for being an ass to you. I shouldn't have been so cold to you. I regret it now, and see how childish I was being."  
  
Michelle felt a tear roll down her cheek as she stared at the road ahead. "I am sorry that I was not more understanding of what you had to do as your job. I should have been supportive. I am sorry for being so stubborn as well. You have to understand that it irks me that you hid something from me for more than a month and I had no idea."   
  
"Michelle.." Tony spoke softly.  
  
"No, you were right in keeping that from me. But, I should have known that you were keeping something from me. As your wife I should have been able to tell you were hiding something from me. Yet, I couldn't." Michelle admitted.  
  
"  
  
Tony drove silently for a few minutes before speaking. "Michelle, it says nothing about you. If anything, it shows how good of a liar I can be, and that is not something I am proud of. You know my history with Nina, which you were reminded of today." Michelle nodded, a face of hatred on her face at the thought of Nina. "I never will lie to you without a reason. I am sorry that you feel the way you do right now. I wish I could change it. All I can do is say I am sorry, and hope you still trust me." He said this as they pulled up in front of their apartment building.   
  
"Tony, of course I trust you and nothing will change that." Michelle reassured him.  
  
Tony smiled, got of the car, and opened the door for Michelle. They walked hand in hand up to their apartment and entered their home. Tony walked over to the couch and laid down onto it with a groan. He pulled Michelle down with him so she was laying in his arms on top of him. This was how it was supposed to be.   
  
"Tony will you go see the doctor tomorrow about your neck?" Michelle asked as her head laid on his chest and her fingers grazed over the bandage on his neck.  
  
"Yeah, I will. Don't worry." Tony spoke softly, happy to have Michelle in his arms again. This was the way things belonged. Them laying peacefully together, dozing off into sleep.  
  
"Tony?" Michelle questioned hesitantly   
  
"Yeah?" Tony spoke sleepily.  
  
"I'm pregnant."   
  
Tony's heart skipped a beat, but then he realized that his world was now complete. He pulled Michelle even closer in his arms. He kissed her on the forehead and they both fell asleep in each others arms, dreaming of the promise of tomorrow.  
  
A/N I hope you like this ending. I will be starting on the sad one soon. Hopefully it will be out in a couple days but it could be a week or two. It's finals weeks and I have band competition on Tuesday. So, I hope you enjoyed that. I know cheesy and kind of out of character, but that's what came out. Thank you guys that reviewed. They meant a lot to me. Please keep reviewing. Don't forget that I have two other t/m fics to read. Thanks again and I hope you enjoyed. The second and final ending will be next. 


	3. Chapter 3

Man, I really don't want to write this but here it goes anyway.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Tony came to, not understanding his surroundings. It took him a few minutes to regain his bearings and what was going on. The harsh reality of what has happened to Michelle came crashing down on him. The feeling was so overwhelming, yet he had no more tears to shed. He stared around at his surroundings. For the first time he really saw and felt how truly cold CTU was. He put most of his life into getting this job and office, and it takes his life in return. He couldn't stay around here.  
  
He picked up his jacket and keys and headed down the stairs slowly. Chappelle walked up to Tony and stopped him from exiting.  
  
"Where are you going Tony?" Chappelle asked softly.  
  
Tony looked around him confused. "I…I honestly don't know."  
  
Chappelle nodded. "Why don't you go home. Get some rest." Chappelle turned around slowly and walked away. He lost himself in silent thought. 'Another life affected by this job. Everybody pays the price for having this job, sometimes it's the loss of your own life, sometimes the loss of a colleagues. Even better, the loss of a spouse. Nobody should have to, but this job has the curse of having it's price. It will catch with you in the end and you will always have to pay the piper'  
  
It took Tony two times around the parking lot to even find his car. He got inside and it was a miracle that he even made it back to their apartment building. He was paying no attention to his surroundings, and he only managed getting back to his house from his own instincts.  
  
He stepped into the appartment. His eyes welled up at the smell of the familiar apartment. He saw the dirty dishes piled in the sink that they intended on cleaning later. On the coffee table was today's newspaper strewn about. Walking into the bedroom he saw clothes strewn about all over the room. Neither of them were that incredibly neat.   
  
Tony stood in front of Michelle's dresser. On top were all these odd and end nick nacks that he would tease her about, because none of them went with each other. He picked up some of them and cried. What was he going to do about these? What was he going to do without her? An idea came to him.  
  
There was an easy solution, he thought. He went to his dresser and pulled out a gun he kept in their for emergencies. He went out into the living room and sat down on the couch to think about this. Something told him not to be hasty about this. It was as if, somebody was keeping him from doing this right away. So, Tony sat their for a few moments thinking about how this was his only way out and the easy solution to all of the grief he was feeling. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. At first he thought he shouldn't answer it, but then decided against it.  
  
Opening the door, he saw Jack, who entered without needing to be asked.   
  
"It's happened?" Tony asked.  
  
"Yeah, the virus acted quicker than we thought it would. I am so sorry Tony." Tony nodded solemnly and let the tears fall down his face. Jack didn't know exactly what to say. He knew how Tony felt and he knew that there wasn't much that could be said. He looked around and saw the gun and alarms went off in his head.  
  
"What are you doing with that?" Jack asked harshly.  
  
"I was thinking of baking a cake with it." Tony replied.  
  
"Don't do what I think you are going to with that." Jack told him.  
  
"Why not?" Tony asked, really wanting to know why he shouldn't end his life.  
  
"Because, it will get better. I have been down that road and I am glad that I never did it." Jack told him sincerely.  
  
"But, you had a daughter to live for. I have nothing. Nothing to live for." Tony moaned as his sobs overcame him.  
  
"Live for her." Jack said passionately. "She would have wanted you to live."  
  
Tony could only silently cry.  
  
"She would want you to move on and live the life that was taken from her. That is the only thing you can do."  
  
Tony nodded, unable to argue.   
  
In the end we must all pay the piper…Some more than others. There is nothing that can be done. It catches up with us in the end.  
  
A/N I know that was crap. I am sorry. I am in a horrible mood. I just heard some really bad news about a friend of the family and I really can't think clearly. I needed to finish this though because it was hanging over me. Thank you for the reviews. 


End file.
